Snack ideas for first time hikers like me

I went on my first hike recently.

One of the exciting thing about doing a new activity is eating new foods. Finally, there is a need for trail mix in my life. I was lucky to go hiking with a group of friends who sorted out the main meals so all I had to pack was water and snacks. I did a bit of research about the nutritional needs and fluid needs and here is what I discovered about what to snacks to bring on a hike.

• Bring ~ 0.7-0.9kg of dried snack per day per person for light hiking (more for more strenuous hiking/activities). However, I ate less than 0.5kg of my snacks per day.
• The key is eat regularly for sustain energy, for example every hour. 
• Bring snacks with carbohydrates and fat so you get both quick acting and long acting energy source. 

Nine snack ideas to bring on a hike.

1. Jerky (we found this brand at Costco without MSG)

2. Homemade protein balls (for a recipe see a previous blog).If you have time to make it. 

3. Dried fruit and nut mix (with MMs)

4. Boiled egg (yay for an savoury snack)

5. Rice cracker with tinned fish (yay for another savoury option)

6. Muesli (of course - you can eat muesli dry)

7. Flavoured milk (This is a really good option as it provide water, protein, fat and carbohydrate)

8. Salted nuts (yay for another savoury option)

9. Chocolate (it has fat and sugar, exactly what the Dietitian prescribed)


One final note. Although, I am a fan of savoury snacks, too much salt will increase the chance of dehydration and isn't healthy either, so limit your salty foods.

More information about what to eat when hiking check out the website below.
http://thru-hiker.com/articles/pack_light_eat_right.php

Favourites from the Good Food And Wine Show 2014

The Good Food And Wine Show (GFS) is an annual show where there is lots of different food and drinks on show. There were also cooking demonstrations and eatery to eat at. This year, the Sydney GFS was held at Sydney Olympic Park and this is what we found.

What is a healthy food product that I would recommend as a Dietitian from GFS?

Egg White Carton

I have seen this product at the Sport & Fitness Expo before, but always thought that it would be expensive and irrelevant. Why would I buy a carton when I could crack my own eggs? I understand now. Firstly, it is ease. You can avoid the mess of cracking eggs. Secondly, it is high in protein, so great for those who exercise or want to lose weight.Thirdly, one carton actually makes 4 omelettes (and one carton =16 egg whites). They are good size omelettes too. I was amazed. Fourthly, you can use it to make pavlova.

What were some strange food items that you saw at GFS?

Edible insects, sugar-free donuts, alpaca meat.

Edible insects, like what? Yes, edible insects. You can get edible insect in your salt & pepper shaker, or in your ice-cream, or in candy, or in cookies. You can't buy them as yet in stores. But I was excited at the innovation. The pamphlet we got encourages eating bugs because they are better for the environment. "They use less water, less space and less feed to produce and high in protein and low in fat." Apparently, the ants have an explosive flavour in your mouth because of the formic acid. I suppose this is a non-vegetarian product but I never equated insects with meat. See ediblebugshop.com.au

Bugs in ice-cream

Different insect seasonings.

Sugar-free donuts - brand "Noshu". It was a doughy texture. This is probably because they were gluten free. They are "natural" - naturally sweetened and natural colours and natural flavours. It is a lower energy snack, equal to a piece of fruit, but not as healthy obviously. It just wasn't sweet enough. My mind was expecting sweet donut icing but it was disappointed. I could probably adjust if I ate them for 2 weeks, but I don't love donuts, and probably eat less than 1 a year. So I see no point of them in my life.

Alpaca meat. I have eaten crocodile, kangaroo, and camel meat. And now I have eaten alpaca. It was in the form of a steam bun. It was eatable. I actually thought it was alright. I am not fussy about meat so would eat them again. I think it tasted like red meat but for me to buy them I need to be convinced of its nutritional benefit.

Alpaca steamed bun

What did you buy? 

Thomas Chipman chips, No Worries Curry. Hoyts tartare sauce.

I am naturally drawn to savoury snacks so I bought chippies. I bought them because they are organic and there is no MSG in them. This doesn't make the chippies healthy but it is my treat and they sustain me for the late night studies. I think the Sweet Chilli Flavour is one of my favourite chips at the moment.

We also bought No Worries Curry to try. We love curries and thought it would make easy dinners. We haven't tried them yet so not sure how they would turn out, but the ingredients sound good.

Mike also wanted to buy the Hoyts tartare sauce because it taste different to the ones available in Supermarkets in Sydney. Unfortunately, this item isn't available outside of Victoria. Mike thought it was stupid for advertising food items that you can't buy.

And what do you want to buy later?

Vanilla protein shake called "Life plus shake"- taste like ice cream milkshake and contains a whooping 45g of protein per carton (600mL). I would probably drink half of a carton after exercise because I am a small person. http://www.lifeplusprotein.com.au/

Gourmet soft caramel in a jar. It can be used on roast meat and toast. It was delicious off a spoon. See www.caramelicious.com.au

Jordans Crispy Oat Cluster cereal. I love clustered cereals. It stays crunchy and doesn't go soggy in milk. It was really tasty - I tried the berry flavour. http://jordanscereals.com/en-au/what-we-make/crispy-oat-clusters/

Beak & Son Chorizo. We have been eating them for a while but they are still delicious. Interestingly their sausages taste better because they use the whole animal (ie. they use the expensive cuts as well as the cheap ones). They have included burgers and meatballs in their range which is available from IGAs. www.mrbeaks.com.au

Procal Burst - Iced coffee - it is a really nice tasting iced coffee (see picture below) - Mike says it's possibly the best tasting iced coffee he's tried. It is not available to buy as yet but I was told that it is coming out soon and should be available at Coles and Woolworths.

Procal Burst flavoured milk.
As you can see the one on the right, which is the iced coffee, is all empty. 

What about non food products?

Coca Cola Glasses

I don't actually drink soft drink regularly but I just love the idea. I think it is cool, however a friend pointed out that it might not improve the flavour, unlike alcohol glasses for different alcohols. Does it retain the fizz better?

Anything else?

Yes, I would love to visit the Butter factory in Myrtleford, Victoria. I tried their "Smoked viking salt butter" and it was yum. I could eat it off the spoon. It is really salty so if you love salty things you will love this too. Otherwise, they have a normal butter or an unsalted butter. I would really like to go on a butter making tour. I love learning more about how food are made. www.butterfactory.com.au

There were also lots of alcoholic beverages such as beers, wines and ciders to try but I am didn't try them so can't tell you what they were like. We had a fun day walking around and eating. It was educational as we got to ask question and hear about how they make the food and what makes their product better than everybody else.

I love to eat anything in a wrap form.

On Saturday, we went out to celebrate a friend's graduation. It was very exciting because I love going to the city and I love trying out new places to eat. This friend loves the pub and so we visited, the "Norfolk Hotel" on Cleveland St, Surry Hills, which was recommended to him. I had never been there before. To be honest, I don't frequent pubs often because I don't like the smell of smoke and I don't like the taste of alcohol.

Anyways, the place was packed which is a good sign. An empty restaurants is to me a reflection of the food. We sat down and I was started perusing the menu because I was starving. There was lots of good daily specials but no special for Saturdays. I would be keen to go back on a Monday night for the $10 nachos. Yum!

My husband and I choose two different dishes because I wanted to try as many dishes as possible. We decided on the soft taco dish in four different flavours (Baja fish, Al Pastor Pork, BBQ chicken, and Coke Cola Beef) and 7 hour lamb roll with Spiced Norfolk Fries. Here are the pictures.

7 hour lamb roll with Spiced Norfolk Fries!!!!

Soft Taco Wraps in four different flavours!!!!!!!

I hope you can see from the photos that the food looked great. I especially like the presentation of the four different wraps. They were bursting with flavour from the different type of salsas. I especially like the Baja fish. My husband like the pork version as there were good size chuck of meat in the Al Pastor Pork. Overall, the food was delicious and I would come back to eat at the restaurant again.

I realized that I actually love food in wrapped form. I love San Choy Boi (lettuce wrap with meat) and Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls (especially when you can make it yourself at the restaurant) and sushi and tacos. I wonder if have you tried the bread in a roll format at Breadtop with pork floss. It is probably pretty Asian but it is delicious. I think I would be willing to eat any food in a wrapped format. It almost sounds like a challenge to myself.

This experience has inspired me to make soft taco wraps with meat and salsa filling at home for dinner. It sounds healthy and easy and great for a small party or just for two.

Homemade Protein Power Balls Recipe

I am writing this blog to those who are either grazers (like me) or to those who always feel hungry. Here is a snack idea for you. 

Last week at the gym, my boxing partner was raving on about these protein balls that she made. Let's call my boxing partner, Jane. Jane had just ate one for breakfast and was still feeling full. Jane keeps them in her draws at work for an afternoon snack to help her lose weight (although my professional opinion is that she doesn't need to lose weight, she is not overweight). She loves them because they are made from real natural food and are healthy. She said how easy it was to make and it only took her 5 minutes and she froze a batch of them for later.

After hearing her speak about them for like 30 minutes, I was sold. I wanted to make these protein balls to see how great they are. I was suspicious about the taste but willing to give them ago. 

The recipe for the homemade protein balls are found at http://www.thehealthychef.com/2011/09/protein-power-balls/. 

In regards to the ingredients, I followed the recipe and used almonds (Jane said almonds tastes better than walnuts) and used a pea protein brand (Phyto protein) it was the one we had at home. I think it is a pretty random thing to have pea protein at home and I suspect if you want to make this recipe you will need to go out and buy it, but we had a tub of pea protein just lying around. 

I followed the instructions exactly and did not make any modifications. The amount of water isn't specified in the recipe and you just add until it forms a ball. I ended up using 1 cup of water, I think it depends on how moist the dates are. I ended making 19 balls (not 14 as per the recipe).

This is what they looked like. 

Nutritional information

I worked out the nutritional content of the balls myself using the information on the packaging and the Calorie King website (http://www.calorieking.com.au/). The values I got were different and higher than the healthy chef website, and I even made my balls smaller. 

Per Ball (I made 19)

Energy 586kJ (140 calories)

Protein 7g

Carbohydrates 8g

Fat 10g *

Fibre 3g (high in fibre)

*For those who are asking why the fat content is so high? It is from the almonds, nuts contains a high percent of fat. The types of fat are unsaturated, the healthy ones. 

These balls also happens to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan friendly. 

The taste test

While I do wish the protein balls were sweeter but I think the fact that they are not that sweet, stops me gobbling up more than one at a time. After a few minutes, I felt satisfied, even though I only ate one. It is a great way to eat your daily serve of unsalted nuts. I would recommend these as a healthy snack. It is pretty easy to make and a handy snack to keep in your fridge. 

I would probably eat one at supper time to stop the midnight munchies, and probably 1 as a snack with a glass of milk after a gym session. 

So if you are a grazer or have the munchies, then give them a go! 

Have you tried camel meat?

My husband and I love grocery shopping because we love to try new foods. One day we came across camel meat at our local Coles supermarket. The camel meat was in the form of burger patties. So after a short discussion as whether we wanted to try it, we decided to buy it and put it in our homemade burgers. I have to say that I wasn't that keen to try it because it sounded weird.

This a picture of our burger with the lot (multigrain bread, lettuce, tomato, fried onion, patty, pineapple, beetroot, bacon, egg, beetroot, cheese).

What did it taste like? The best way to describe the taste of the patty is it taste like the sausage patty from McDonald's Sausage McMuffin (maybe I've been eating camel all that time and I didn't even know it?!). The patties are meant to taste sweeter because they have a higher glycogen (sugar) content but I really couldn't taste the difference.

So after eating my delicious camel burger, I decided to determine whether if camel meat is actually healthy for me. This is what I found out.

It is similar to other red meats (e.g. beef, goat and lamb), but it has less fat and more moisture. The fat content is pretty low, about 1-7% depending which part of the camel you are eating. And like other red meat it is an excellent source of iron and zinc. One group of scientists classified camel meats as a meat with low cholesterol content 51-53mg/100g of meat.  [Further nutritional information
books.google.com.au/books?isbn=178064101X]

In some parts of the world camel meats has been recommended to those with hyperacidity, hypertension, pneumonia, prevention of cancer, heart disease, colds, sciatica, and fatigue. Who knew camel meat could do so much? However I couldn't find journal articles to support all of those claims. Most articles do recommend camel meat for heart diseases, probably because of its low fat content. [ Further reading: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/232041869_Minerals_and_Nutritional_Composition_of_Camel_(Camelus_dromedarius)_Meat_in_Pakistan/file/9fcfd5073aabc88ca5.pdf]

I am not sure if camel meat is good for any of those conditions, I am eating it because it taste good. Be brave and give it a try!

We found the home of Sydney's biggest pizza!!!!!

Johnny's pizzeria is a small shop in a row of other eateries on a very busy main road in West Pennant Hills www.johnnypizzeria.com.au. We were greeted by friendly staff, who let us rearrange their tables and chairs to create a table to fit 8 people. If you are planning to go to Johnny's then you should probably book because there are only 6 square tables, fitting a maximum of 24 people. However, it appears that most people who frequent this shop order take-away. There is a giant TV playing channel V and A-league soccer which can be a distraction if you want to have a conversation over dinner. Also, you can watch them make the pizza, here is a photo of them making "the big one".

There were 8 of us who came to the restaurant. We weren't really sure how many of "the big ones" we needed to order, but it turned out one was enough. The pizzas are a giant 25 inches in diameter, which if you have trouble imagining 25 inches (like me), it is the size of a small round dining table.  Here is a photo of the pizza pan and our 6'2'' friend, Johnny, to help you judge the size. 

Once you decided what size you want then you have to decide on the flavour. If you are indecisive then you might have difficulties choosing a pizza flavour because there are 42 different flavours including "Ham and um.. Pineapple". We decided to have the lot. So we ordered "the big one" in the flavour of "Super Supreme" with anchovies. Mike (my husband) and I love anchovies if you don't already know. Here is a photo of us with "the big one".

Now, it is time for the taste test. The DOUGH - It's hand-rolled and you just have to love it! It's crispy on the base, and light and "airy" in the middle, and it's relatively thin.  The TOPPING - is generous and tasty. I like the way the giant pizza is served on a giant lazy Susan. I just love lazy Susans. The SIZE, it is truly giant. Overall, we left Johnny's feeling very full and very satisfied with the quality. Mike even said he was "defeated after just 3 slices".

If you are wondering how many people this giant pizza feeds, then I think that it will feed 3 very hungry males or 8 very hungry females.  It fed our group of 8 with 2 slices left over (3 adult males, 2 adult females, 2 teenagers, and a child.

As an aside, we also ordered the pizza named after the shop - "Johnny's". It was like eating a lamb kebab. Delicious.

We have found the home of Sydney's biggest pizza, and it's a big thumbs up from Kit! It was a delicious! And it was good value, less than $10 per head.

But where is Australia's biggest pizza? We would love to know if there is a place in Australia that sells pizza larger than 25 inches and good quality.

This is for the Doctor Who lovers!!!!!

I went to a very stylish 21st tonight. It was like being in photos from Pinterest. There were different sized glass jars (used as drinking glasses) with a paper tag and twine around them, two glass drinking dispensers with homemade alcoholic punch, a lolly buffet station with little brown paper bags for your lollies, and an old style typewriter for decor. There were more decorations but you get the vibe. 

But I have saved the best thing at the party 'til last. It was amazing. It was dark but I could see two trays approaching with goods wrapped in plastic and tied with blue ribbons. There were heaps of them on the two trays. I peered at the tray with excitement and they were .... very very cute cookies!!!!!!! They were not just any type of cookies. They were beautifully decorated. They were themed cookies. Doctor Who theme. 

These cookies looked amazing and while I have no idea about the show "Doctor Who". I simply marveled at the handwork of the cookie-maker. The cookie were about 5mm thick. Layered icing. Some metallic colours were used. I wonder if the cookie-maker made her own cookie cutters or did she hand cut them?

 

For those who are reading this, I hope this becomes a food trend for 2014. Let's hope that themed cookies will be popping up at your next party. 

What does my Chinese family order at Yum Cha?

I have been going to Yum Cha with my grandfather since I was 18 months old. Apparently, when I was young I only ate steamed chicken. These days, we still catch up with grandfather for Yum Cha but I eat a greater variety. I thought I would show you what my Chinese family orders at Yum Cha. We go to a range of Yum Cha restaurants but these photos were taken at "Great Century Restaurant" at Bankstown. 

Foods we ordered ...

And something new...

I think you would love this dessert if you like crispy and chewy textured dessert. They had a peanut and desiccated coconut fillings in the glutinous ball. I kinda wished it was a different filling like custard but it is still nice. And I would eat them again. If you want to try this dessert then you have to go to Great Century restaurant because I doubt you will be able to find this dessert at another Yum Cha restaurant. If you do let me know in the comments below. 

Something New : Korean Shimeji Mushroom

I am an adventurous person when it consumes to food and drinks. However, I have fallen into a pattern of eating the same fruits and vegetables. So I decided to try some new fruits and vegetables this year. 

The first new vegetables I have tried this year is the Korean Shimeji Mushroom. I bought it from an Asian green grocerer at Canley Heights (Yung Lee Fresh, 221 Canley Vale Road, Canley Heights). If you don't have an Asian green grocerer in your neck of the woods then you can look for them at your local Asian grocery stores. The Shimeji mushrooms are pretty cute, it looks like a little mushroom city. 

 

How to cook? 
I just cut off the stalk and washed them. Then I chuck them in my stir fry with hokkien noodles. 

What do they taste like?
Like mushroom

Would you eat them again? 
Yes

Gym Debate: Milk vs. Soymilk

I started back at the gym last week. There were a lot of fellow Pilate enthusiasts who lamented their weight increase over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Most people seemed to have gained 5 kg over this period. The conversation progressed from eating too much on Christmas day to a discussion on milk vs. soy milk.

My fellow gym buddies asked our gym instructor which is better: Milk or Soy milk? And she said that skim milk and lite milk are really bad for the body (I gasped silently). Her reason was that processing removes all the nutrients from the milk. She concluded that all milk was bad and recommended soy milk instead. 

Little did they know that they had a Dietitian in their midst (me!). If they had asked for my opinion, I would have said, "Don't be silly, milk is great! It helps you lose weight, rehydrates you and helps with muscle recovery."

Now, I totally understand that some people cannot drink milk due allergies or they are vegans. I get that! I personally drink both milk and soy milk. Both are nutritious and tasty.

But don't give up on drinking milk. There is room for milk and soy milk in our lives. 


More information here 
Michael Zemel's research on milk and weight loss
Zemel, M.B. (2002). Regulation of Adiposity and Obesity Risk by Dietary Calcium: Mechanisms and Implications. J Am Coll Nutrition. 21 (2): 146S-151S. 

Zemel, M.B., Thompson, W., Milstead, A., et al (2004). Calcium and Dairy Acceleration of Weight and Fat Loss During Energy Restriction in Obese Adults. Obesity Research, 12: 582-590. 

Zemel, M.B., Richards, J., Milstead, A., et al. (2005). Effects of Calcium and Dairy on Body Composition and Weight Loss in African-American Adults. Obesity Research. 13: 1218-1225. 

Dairy Australia link to the benefit of milk after exercise
www.dairyaustralia.com.au/Health-and-nutrition/Dairy-and-Health/Sportshub.aspx

I am starting a blog on food. I love eating food and I find food a fascinating topic. I am planning to write a mixture of things - what I have been eating, restaurants that I recommend, my opinion on nutritional issues, food trends, new foods I have tried out, and recipes. This is why I called it "what is eating Kit?"

The nutritional information I provide on this blog is my opinion based upon my studies on nutrition and my interpretation on current research. I am aware that my opinion might change with new information. 

I hope you enjoy what is eating Kit.